Berezovsky jailed in absentia

Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky was yesterday sentenced in absentia to six years in prison for fraud by a court in Moscow. The London-based businessman, who called the prosecution a "farce", was found guilty of embezzling nearly 215m roubles (£4.3m) from the Aeroflot airline.

The court said the tycoon, who controlled Aeroflot in the 1990s, was a member of an "organised criminal group" that stole the airline's foreign currency earnings.

Russia had failed to extradite Berezovsky, who fled to Britain in 2000 and was granted political asylum three years later. He faces prosecution in 11 cases in Russia, and Moscow, armed with yesterday's conviction, is likely to again appeal to Britain to hand him over, the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted the prosecutor in the case as saying.

Berezovsky had refused to cooperate with the Aeroflot trial, claiming it was politically motivated. "This was not a trial but pure farce," he said.

He has accused the Kremlin of murdering his friend Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB officer who died of radioactive poisoning in London last year.

President Vladimir Putin has promised to rid Russia of "oligarchs", saying they carved up state assets during the early post-Soviet period.

Meanwhile the former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, one of Putin's strongest critics, was released from a Moscow jail yesterday after a five-day sentence for leading an unauthorised protest.